The present application generally relates to systems, devices, and methods for transferring kinetic energy from a working fluid to mechanical energy. More specifically, the present invention comprises a rotor assembly having a plurality of closely related blades which form spiral pathways through which the working fluids flows. Momentum from the working fluid is transferred to the surface of the blades, turning the rotor assembly in the same direction as the direction of the fluid flow.
Turbines are generally comprised of a housing, a fluid inlet, a rotor assembly comprised of blades attached to a shaft, and a fluid outlet. As the working fluid moves past the blades of the rotor assembly, the fluid molecules immediately adjacent to the surface of the blades stick to the blades. Nearby fluid molecules collide with the molecules that are stuck to the blades, creating a boundary layer of fluids at the surface of the blades where the velocity of the fluid is reduced. The momentum from the fluid molecules in the boundary layer is transferred to the blades, which turns the rotor assembly. The working fluid then exits the housing through the fluid outlet.
Various Patent and Patent Applications deal with Rotary Turbines. For example U.S. Pat. No. 4,641,498 to Markovitch, et al. Discloses and claims a geothermal turbine for converting the energy of two-phase geothermal fluids to rotary power that includes a housing having a generally cylindrical rotor chamber with a circular manifold, and a plurality of peripheral nozzles for communicating fluid to the rotor chamber, and a rotor mounted coaxially within the chamber including a plurality of converging overlapping blades mounted around a central hub and positioned within the rotor for engagement by fluid from the nozzles.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,776,732 to Davis discloses and claims a governor device for controlling the speed of rotary devices is disclosed. The Davis device is a valve operated by centrifugal force to control a pressurized fluid through the nozzles of a turbine rotor. Under the teachings of the Davis patent said valve comprises a rotary chamber having an opening outwardly of a resilient valve member therein, the resilient valve member being movable by centrifugal force to control flow through said annular chamber, said annular chamber being part of the passageway of the pressurized fluid flow through said turbine rotor nozzles.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,996,336 to Hamedani is directed to a jet aircraft engine having an improved turbine section with curved intake manifolds to direct combustion gasses from the engine's combustion chamber into the turbine housing on a chordal flow path through the turbine generally perpendicular to the turbine rotor's axis of rotation. The Hamedani turbine rotor has a number of radially extending turbine blades for transmitting energy from the combustion gasses to shaft work to drive the engine's fan and compressor.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,277,542 to Nakanishi discloses and claims a turbine featuring a spiral partition is formed upright on the outer periphery of a rotor carried rotatably in a casing. A large number of blades are mounted between turns of the partition at a predetermined interval on the outer periphery of the rotor, and a channel for the working fluid is formed in the space between the blades and the partition on the outer periphery of the rotor. Therefore, the Nakanishi turbine is relatively efficient.
Other patents and patent applications describe various attempts to provide for a rotative turbine that can efficiently transform the kinetic energy of the working fluid into mechanical energy. Despite all the efforts listed above, prior art patents describe structures that are either not truly convenient or else involve complicated, expensive, and overly difficult to operate parts and procedures. Other devices have been advertised on various media but never patented or described into a printed publication.